Proximity wins in San Francisco, Boston, New York , Washington, Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago, where 90% or more of residents are within a half-mile walk of a public park.

Among the 40 largest cities, Charlotte, Jacksonville and Louisville rank the lowest because less than a third of their residents are within walking distance of a park. Part of the reason is that all three cities consolidated with their counties and include sprawling suburbs where parks are spread out over large areas.

"Cities that are old and created pre-automobile when people walked more and used transit have a parks system accessible to the citizenry," says Peter Harnik, director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the public land trust. "Those outlying areas have very poor access to parks."

What city spends the most on parks? The nation's capital, Washington, at $397 per resident in 2010, according to the annual report.

The most visited park is New York City's Central Park with 37.5 million visitors annually, followed by Chicago's Lincoln Park (20 million), San Diego's Mission Bay Park (16.5 million) and Balboa Park (14 million).

What reveals the most about regional preferences is which city has more ball fields or pools.

Go west for skateboarding parks: Chula Vista, Colorado Springs, Reno, Long Beach, Calif., Sacramento, Las Vegas, El Paso and Henderson, Nev., are among the top 10 with the highest number per 100,000 residents.

Seniors are best served in Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, Washington and Philadelphia.

Love for man's best friend crosses time zones and regional cultures. Off-leash dog parks that allow four-legged pets to run free are on the rise. The top 10 cities with the most dog parks per 100,000 residents: Portland, Ore.; Norfolk, Va.; Las Vegas; Madison, Wis.; San Francisco; Tampa; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Henderson; Albuquerque; and Bakersfield, Calif.

"Crowded cities are where people really appreciate parks," Harnik says. "In uncrowded cities where people have backyards, there's less of a need."